Stars can use lack of invites to Olympic Orientation camps as motivation

Team Canada and Team USA released their invites to Olympic Orientation camps on Monday, and the Stars were shut out.

No Jamie Benn, No Tyler Seguin. No Alex Goligoski.

Sergei Gonchar was invited to Russia's camp and will probably play in his fifth Olympics. Kari Lehtonen is one of eight goalies invited to Finland's camp.

But that's it for the Stars.

That's tough news for a squad that has seen Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brenden Morrow, Ed Belfour and Jere Lehtinen (among others) medal at previous Olympics. But Stars GM Jim Nill said he sees the Olympic announcements more as an opportunity than a reason to fret.

"Honestly, it's great motivation for our players," said Nill. "If you really think you should be there, or you really want to be there, you have from September to December to change their minds. It's hard to make an Olympic team, and so you have to prove to them you deserve to be there."

Benn and Seguin both will be players to watch. Each was mentioned in the media as potential players on the final squad for Team Canada, so they know they are close. Goligoski has been a loyal World Championships player for Team USA. New Stars coach Lindy Ruff is one of three associate coaches with team Canada (Ken Hitchcock and Claude Julien are the others, while Mike Babcock is the head coach), so he'll have some amount of sway.

"It's my job to help get Jamie Benn on that team. That's one of the things I can do by helping him perform well during the regular season," Ruff said when asked about Benn being snubbed. "It's a great challenge for a lot of players. Just because you're not at the camp doesn't mean you can't make the team."

And, even if you don't make the team, you can still have a great season. Seguin was kept off of Team Canada for the World Juniors as an 18-year-old, was motivated by the snub, and went on to have a terrific final season in Plymouth. He then was drafted second overall by Boston. The 2010 World Juniors didn't matter to him much by that time.

The Stars could actually get a break by having their players rest during the Olympics Feb. 9-25. That said, there still is that pride factor.

"It's as big as it gets," Nill said when asked about the impact of the Olympics in Canada. "It's hard to quantify, because hockey means so much up there. To wear the colors of your country and represent the sport of hockey for Canada…it's a great, great honor."

Ruff did it in 2010 and won a gold medal, as Canada beat the United States, 3-2, in Vancouver. He said it was one of the best moments of his life.

"The experience in 2010 was unbelievable," he said. "To win gold in Canada, it doesn't get better than that. Now, we have the challenge of going out and trying to do it again."

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